City welcomes questions on RR crossing closings proposal
By Becky Brooks
Managing Editor
news@gazettepublishingco.com
The proposed closing of five Norfolk Southern Railroad grade crossings was the main topic Thursday during the noon Bellevue Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Nearly 40 people attended the event in the Club House at the Willows.
Mayor Donald Berkey introduced himself as guest speaker and then the city staff in attendance. “I hope and pray in four years at the end of my term, Bellevue is a better place than it is now,” he said.
Berkey spoke briefly. He turned the main part of the program over to Safety-Service Director Jeffrey Crosby.
“Norfolk Southern came to the city a couple months ago… the Center Street crossing is an issue for Norfolk Southern,” he stated.
“It binds the flow in and out of the yards,” he said about trains slowing at Center Street.
At Center Street, Norfolk Southern took out one set of rails and replaced that with two, he explained, noting 100 trains a day will be coming through that crossing.
When the city sat down with Norfolk Southern, they ask for four other crossings to also be closed, he said with a map of the proposed closing of five crossings on a TV behind him.
Crosby repeated much of the information he shared at a recent public meeting held in City Centre. He told the chamber that another meeting is forthcoming with the railroad. The city’s proposed solution to closing five crossings is to extend and expand McKim Street from East Main Street to Dewey Street, which leads to Monroe. That gives the city a run-around should the U.S. 20 underpass flood, he said.
People may still submit questions to him for the railroad at his e-mail: ssd1@cityofbellevue.com.
Questions will be posed to Norfolk Southern at a future meeting and then officials will hold another public session.
The safety-service director said that even with the $1 million McKim Street expansion, not all the problems would be solved. Those issues – pedestrian safety, the North Coast Inland Bike Train and the planned NKP & Mad River Railroad Museum viewing stand – must yet be addressed.
Crosby assured that no decisions have been made on the Norfolk Southern request to close the crossings and the final decision would be up to the Bellevue City Council.
Posted by Becky Brooks
on Feb 3 2012.
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Trains, trucks and sinkholes. That would be good ol’ Bellevue.
It IS time to get things changed…for the good.
One thing that does concern me, if these crossing are closed. Where ever traffic get rerouted, will the streets be upgraded to handle the increase in traffic. I’ve seen this problem in recent years with the Overpass. Ellis, Belle, Kinney st’s have all seen massive increases in traffic in recent years because of the trains. Those streets were not made to handle that amount of traffic. Streets need to be widened and reinforced so they are not crumbling after a year or two!